Most childhood injuries are no more serious than scrapes, bumps, and bruises. When a childhood injury is more severe, however, it can be expensive. Even treatable injuries like broken bones can come with a hefty price tag, especially since parents or other caregivers often have to miss work to care for a child. Other injuries can have a lifelong impact.
When someone injures a child through negligence, they should pay for the damages. In addition to medical bills, the costs can include lost wages for the parents, adaptive materials, and a loss of earning capacity for the child. If the injury leads to permanent disabilities, the child may never be capable of self-support. A Metairie child injury lawyer could help you win a settlement to provide for them for a lifetime. With help from a knowledgeable personal injury attorney, you may be able to secure your child’s financial future.
Common Childhood Injuries
While children are accident-prone, some things pose a greater danger than others. Understanding the highest-risk scenarios for children can help parents, caretakers, and other adults reduce the risk of childhood injuries. The top causes of childhood injuries include:
- Falls
- Burns
- Drowning
- Animal bites
- Traffic accidents
- Cuts and punctures
- Being struck by objects
Many of these injuries are avoidable, leading to potential negligence claims.
Understanding Negligence Related to Child Injuries
Accidents involving a child have a different legal standard than those involving adults. While the law treats 18-year-olds as adults, it does consider that children do not have fully developed brains or impulse control. A child does not need to act like a reasonable adult; they only need to act like a reasonable child.
The standard also impacts how people must behave around children. There is a higher standard of care involved when there is a child. For example, caregivers have a responsibility to watch out for the safety and well-being of children when they have no duty to watch out for most adults in the same situation.
Generally, property owners owe no duty to trespassers on their property other than the duty not to set traps for them. However, the concept of the attractive nuisance applies to child injuries. Attractive nuisances are things like swimming pools that could tempt children, even if they would be safe around adults. Property owners must secure attractive nuisances to keep them safe from children.
These laws make it easier to recover damages in a lawsuit when the injured party is a child. Even if an adult would not have a personal injury claim, a child might. Someone who is unsure whether their child’s accident would be covered under personal injury laws should consult a Metairie child injury attorney.
The Statute of Limitations for Child Injury Cases
One of the most important differences between adult and child personal injury cases is the statute of limitations (SOL), which is the deadline for when injured parties have to file a suit. The state SOL is one year, but when the injured person is a child, it is longer. Louisiana Civil Code Annotated art. 3492 tolls the statute of limitations until adulthood. This means a child has until age 19 to bring a personal injury lawsuit. It also provides parents with an extra year to file those identical lawsuits.
Extending the SOL offers parents a longer time to bring a lawsuit for a child’s injury, and it gives the injured child the opportunity to bring their claims if their parents did not. However, that does not mean that people should wait to work with a child injury lawyer in Metairie and file these claims. The longer the time between an injury and a claim, the more difficult it is to gather evidence to prove the claim.
Speak with a Child Injury Attorney in Metairie
When your child suffers a significant injury, it can be financially, physically, and emotionally overwhelming for everyone. Parents and other family members may need to become full-time caregivers, which can put tremendous financial pressure on a family. If someone else caused the injury, they should be responsible for the damages. Schedule a consultation with a Metairie child injury lawyer to learn more about your potential remedies.
